


Healing Together

by TaeFansick



Series: Rick and Steven Experiment [2]
Category: Rick and Morty, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Feels, First Date, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Meeting, Moving In Together, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25638850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaeFansick/pseuds/TaeFansick
Summary: Sequel to In the Moment.How Rick and Steven met and how far they've come.
Relationships: Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty)/Steven Universe
Series: Rick and Steven Experiment [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863817
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Healing Together

It wasn’t too unusual for Steven to wander around all the old sites, reflecting on how his life had played out. He had returned to Beach City just for a little while to check on the progress of the Little Homeschool and see his dad and the Gems. He had traveled to all of the thirty-eight states on his list and still couldn’t decide what to do and where to settle down. He had hoped maybe revisiting his roots would help but in all honesty it just made him depressed. 

Today he was re-visiting the Kindergarten. It was hard to think about how much time had passed since he found out that Amethyst came from here. He paused in front of the hole she came from, sighing to himself. 

_“I won’t let you stand there and remind me about all the things I hate about myself!”_

At the time he didn’t really understand why someone as amazing as Amethyst would hate anything about herself. As the years passed he related more with that statement then he cared to admit. His eyes travelled, taking in the hundreds and hundreds of holes. It was so overwhelming…

Steven stiffened at the sound of metal echoing out. _What was that?_ He moved quietly, trying to pinpoint the source of the clanging and...cursing? What he found was a man in a lab coat. Steven’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he strode over. “Hey! What are you doing here?” 

Rick cursed and whipped out a weapon, turning on the one interrupting him. He shot without a second thought, earning a yelp of pain before seeing a rush of pink. In an instant, he was shoved to the ground, the hand holding the gun pinned. He glared above, pausing when he saw a young man on him, looking infuriated. 

“A destabilizer? Seriously?!” 

Rick smirked. “Well what would you recommend to have ready in a place like this?” He shoved the other back, the two men trading places with now Rick on top. “What are you doing here anyway?” 

“I was asking you that! You don’t have any business here in the Kindergarten!” He felt his face heat up at the confrontation. He didn’t recall ever meeting this man before… 

Rick’s unibrow rose on one end. “So you know what this place is. That’s what I was gathering samples for. To figure it out. I didn’t see traces of anything organic here that wasn’t plant life or bacteria.” He nodded to the many holes. “So, why don’t you tell me what they are.” 

Steven hesitated as he took the other man in. What an odd shade of blue hair. And a very bold unibrow. And very...very strange colour eyes. He couldn’t even place what colour they should be. Blue? Green? Grey? It was like a storm of all of those… “...They’re where the Gems came out of the Earth.” 

“Gems? Gemstones?” 

“Sort of.” He blushed further under Rick’s steady gaze and looked away. “Would you mind letting me up?” 

“Are you going to attack me again?” 

“You shot at me!” The younger man defended. 

“Oh, g-getting fired up again~?” The scientist smirked. “I can just stay here. I’m liking the view~” He gave a wink, enjoying the colour on the young man’s face. “Name’s Rick, by the way. What’s yours?” 

“...Steven.” 

Rick finally showed some mercy, standing up and off of the young man and offering a hand. When Steven took it, allowing himself to be helped to his feet, the older man took him in. The younger man was cute. Lots of dark curls that fell around his face and down his neck, dark eyes with thick lashes, thick legs and a plump ass. He let go of Steven’s hand to smooth his own hair, opting to put on the charm. “Well, Steven, I appreciate the input.” He gathered his samples and set them up in the ship. He caught Steven eyeing the piece of machinery and spoke up. “It’s not pretty, I know. I just built it out of trash in the garage.” 

“This was made out of trash?” The half-Gem was impressed. “And you made it?” He had been around plenty of intelligent beings before. He had seen Pearl and Peridot make robots from debris in the barn. But they were also thousands of years old. 

“Sure did. Gotta travel off planet somehow, right?” 

“You do space travel in this? Is it safe?” 

“Worried about me?” Rick teased. “Don’t worry about it. L-lots of people fall prey-fall for the Sanchez charm.” He stood before the younger man, reaching to tuck a curl behind the half-Gem’s ear. He noted Steven stiffened at the contact but made no move to stop him, boosting his ego. “Careful now. Don’t want whoever you have at home getting jealous.” 

Steven’s eyes averted. “I actually don’t…” It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to be with anyone after he and Connie went their separate ways. He just wasn’t sure what he even wanted to do. “There’s no one.” Keep it simple. Just like he did with the Gems at home. He just pretended that it didn’t bother him so he didn’t have to see the pity on their faces. It was almost too much when he came back home and had dinner with his family. Or at least with the ones who ate. 

_Amethyst spoke up in between bites. “So, Steven, when are we gunna meet em?”_

_Steven’s face had contorted in confusion. “Who?”_

_The purple Gem snorted. “Whoever you’re seeing these days! Ya know we met Connie’s new love a while back. Sooooo? Who are they?”_

_Steven had frozen. Connie found someone. He shouldn’t be surprised. He forced a smile. “Oh...Well, actually…” What should he say? That he was so worried about being heartbroken that he couldn’t get close to anyone? That every date he had wound up being a mess with him babbling and making this uncomfortable or with the other person being a total creep? “I’m just still looking around I guess.”_

Rick cleared his throat at that. “Well...If you’re not doing anything, why don’t I take you on a ride in this thing?” He patted the ship affectionately. “I’ll promise to keep my hand below the knee if that helps.” 

“You’re asking me out? Why?” The question was out there before he could stop it. He frowned at himself. Great. Another chance to interact with someone who didn’t see him as the saviour of the Earth and he goes and makes himself look awkward again! Why was he like this?! 

Rick shrugged. “You’re cute. And you can tell me about this place. I h-happen to like hearing about stuff like this, ya know? So what do you say?” He opened the ship door for the other man, letting Steven decide whether to step inside. 

This was a bad idea. This is the exact sort of thing he should be avoiding. He had no idea who this man was! “You know what? Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.” 

Oooo

Meeting Rick’s family was...interesting. Where the Gems and Greg just sort of let it happen- though reluctant- Rick’s family members were all over the place. His daughter and granddaughter found it weird but just let it go. His son in law called it outright disgusting, accusing Rick of statutory rape despite the fact that Steven was an adult. Jerry hadn’t believed him, even when he showed the man his ID to display his age. 

It was his grandson Morty that had the toughest time with it. 

Rick had taken Steven on a few dates, some of which being adventures. Morty was clearly unhappy sharing his time with his grandpa but said nothing since Rick had slowly been growing kinder in their time together. 

_Seriously, we almost died, Rick!” Morty had been wiping off slime from his arms with one of the towels Rick gave him. “What the hell is your problem?!” He had only been saved by Steven using one of his bubbles, almost not reaching him with the chaos that was happening around them._

_“But you’re alive, aren’t you, ya little shit!” Rick snapped, driving them away from the planet as fast as possible. It hadn’t been the way he planned things to go and Morty’s bitching wasn’t helping._

_Steven kept the situation from escalating, putting a hand on Rick’s arm. “Rick. Stop.” His tone was gentle but firm. “He’s hurt and lashing out. And I know you’re afraid you almost lost him.” Rick ground his teeth together but said nothing. “We’re all okay. Let’s just go home.”_

_“...Home, huh?” He had been asking Steven for a couple of weeks to just move in with him in the sub level of the home so they didn’t have to portal back and forth but Steven had yet to give an answer. Until that moment. He glanced over to the young man who was giving a nervous smile. Rick had relaxed and taken Steven’s hand in his own, placing a kiss on the back of it as he drove. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”_

_Afterwards Morty surprised Steven by giving him a hug out of nowhere. The half-Gem had been getting some water from the kitchen when the teen came up behind him. Steven had panicked for a moment, thinking Morty was more hurt than they realized. “Morty? Are you okay?”_

_“Y-yeah just…” Morty had pulled away, fidgeting. “Thanks. I didn’t like this at first but...I mean, y-y-you really- you really saved me and Rick’s been so happy. Just...Just thank you.”_

After that it was easier. They were able to hang out without there being too much tension. Watching interdimensional cable, going on adventures...Steven was even able to help Morty with his homework. The teen was getting better grades and gaining confidence. When Morty asked for advice when he got a date with Jessica, Steven got emotional afterward. 

_”He asked me for help! Can you believe it?!”_

_Rick had stopped his work long enough to pull Steven into his lap, nuzzling him. “Of course I can. No one’s more romantic than my baby. ‘Cept maybe yours truly~”_

The thing that was the strangest to do was giving “fatherly advice” to Beth. She had sought out someone to talk to and had hesitantly asked Steven if he could aid her. 

_”I mean, you’re basically like my other dad now, right? Or is this too weird?”_

It was indeed weird at first but Steven was beyond flattered. He really felt like a part of the family as he sat with Beth, the woman sipping wine and complaining about her husband, wondering what she should do for her kids. She vented she was worried about becoming her father and people thinking she was evil. Steven was able to relate and expressed his own concerns with turning into his mother. It was something they could connect on. By the time they were done talking in the early morning hours, they were so tired from their teary eyes but were so much closer. 

When Steven tried to go to bed afterwards, Rick cornered him and ravished him. Evidently seeing Steven and Beth chatting made his fatherly instincts go haywire. The half-Gem could hardly move the next day. Something that Rick was happy to brag about when he was asked about Steven’s absence at breakfast. 

_”Oh, h-he won’t be up today, sweetie. Y-you know just- just such a late night. S-so don’t be surprised if he isn’t up for dinner either. Just so hard to resist that pretty voice begging for more-”_

Rick was cut off by his grandkids insisting they didn’t need to hear it. 

Time passed so fast in the home. It was so easy to relax into the man’s side as they watched television or be right there for one another when trouble hit or Rick insisted they visit some distant planet. For once Steven being a Gem wasn’t the weirdest thing in his life. And that worked great for him. He wasn’t held down by Pink’s legacy or Rose’s lies. He wasn’t embarrassed about not going to school as a kid, Rick quickly praised him for it saying “school isn’t a place for smart people.” He had a family that valued him as a member. Morty even accidentally called him grandpa at one point. It could have been an insult to someone else, but Steven just got emotional knowing how much Morty idolized Rick. 

Now, sitting at the table, laughing and chatting, Rick let his eyes stray to Steven who was listening to Summer talk about some boy she had begun dating. He let a soft smile play across his lips as he ran a thumb over Steven’s fingers, the two often holding hands beneath the table. No point in telling Steven he was making a note about his ring size.


End file.
